Adaolisa
Christopher is expressionless. He stares up at the passing lamps, each identical to the last.
Briefly lowering his gaze to look forward, he sees the hook nosed man begin to shift and blur, his characteristics changing to that of a young man with messy black hair.
Christopher isn’t fazed by this sight and asks casually. “Is this your true appearance?”
“No.” The man shook his head. “This is just one of many forms that I use.”
“What are you?” Christopher asks bluntly. Not particularly concerned about offending this man or… thing, Christopher’s tone is flat and indifferent.
“What I am is not yet of relevance to your journey.” The man says. “You’ll be meeting Adaolisa shortly. Save your questions for her.”
The corridor ends suddenly at a plain looking wooden door. The man twists the knob and steps forward as he opens it.
They come out from a door at the side of a lavish hallway with two staircases leading up in both directions.
The style is consistent with the corridor with large marble arching pillars dividing up sections of the walls that were lined with murals depicting ancient civilisations. The floor was no longer wooden but instead consisted of marble tiles that matched the arching pillars. Smaller lamps encircled a medium sized chandelier in the centre of the curved ceiling. To Christopher the place appears to be even more luxurious than his mother’s house. Apparently this Adaolisa lady is filthy rich.
The man turns to head up the staircase with Christopher following him.
When they ascend to the top of the steps they find themselves in what appears to be an extremely luxurious living room. A massive chandelier dimly lights the room. Two wide spiralling staircases descend on each side of the room sandwiching a cluster of ornate tables and couches that formed an arc around a huge television on the wall.
As the man led Christopher closer to the cluster of furniture, he notices a woman sitting on one of the large leather couches.
She is dark skinned and wears a long black nightgown that seems to be partially illusory as it simply fades away at the ends of her feet and sleeves. Diamonds and gold jewellery adorns all of her exposed skin with the exception of her ethereally beautiful face.
She stands up in the most elegant way possible before gliding around the furniture like a phantom. Her eyes begin to glow with a rainbow light as she looks at Christopher up and down.
Christopher who remains void of expression observes that her eyes are the same as his.
Her lips curl into a smile before her gaze shifts over to the formerly hook nosed man who nods before vanishing again. With the two them seemingly alone she looks back at Christopher and speaks in a soft and soothing voice while gesturing around the massive living room. “My name is Adaolisa, it’s good to meet you Christopher Marcus. What do you think about this place? It’s your new home.”
“Good to meet you too miss. Adaolisa.” Christopher greets her back but his tone stays flat and lifeless. The place was odd but pleasant, it could only be described as resembling the set of a Victorian sitcom. Looking around he continues to say. “This place is really interesting, I’ve never seen a layout like this before.”
“Would you prefer I change it?” Adaolisa asks, her smile deepening.
“Change it?” Christopher looks at the woman confused before looking around a second time. It isn’t long before he freezes at the sight of various doors and corridors shifting around as if the building were somehow alive. Carpets spring off the ground gliding like sting rays across the ocean floor, dressers gallop around as ornate pillars sliver across the walls like massive snakes. Each mural on the walls and ceilings seems to spring to life, the countless people migrating across the shifting walls as if animated. The movement comes to a stop and the staircase that Christopher had just ascended was no longer in sight. Instead he was now staring out of a massive balcony that seemed to be overlooking a vast black void of nothingness. All the furniture freezes in place, having found their new spots.
With a giggle, Adaolisa says. “Sorry for the lack of scenery, I’ll think of something later.”
After witnessing whatever the fuck that just was, scenery was the last thing on Christopher’s mind. He turns back to look at Adaolisa before asking. “Can I take a seat?”
“Of course!” She replies enthusiastically, her large eyes glowing with a compassionate radiance that reminds him of nurse Joyce.
Christopher nods before heading over to one of the couches to take a seat. Adaolisa moves in a Phantom like manner once again to sit beside him, carrying with her the sweet scent of cinnamon along with a chilly breeze.
Christopher unzips his suitcase that rests at his feet before retrieving the diary and placing it on his lap. He clears his throat before speaking. “First I want you to tell me what this book is.”
“It’s as the name suggests; a fate diary!” Adaolisa responds. “It has the power to fix certain events in the vortex of possibilities so that they’re garenteed to happen.”
“The vortex of possibilities?” Christopher asks, stroking his chin in fascination. This concept sounded like it came from a new age cult.
Adaolisa who had retrieved a long ornate tobacco pipe takes a few puffs before continuing to explain. “Those strings that you can suddenly see… I can see them too. They connect everything and everyone because everything in existence has a fate. Eventually the strings all converge in a single point. That is what we call the vortex of possibilities. Inside of it all future possibilities exist simultaneously, springing into existence and simultaneously erasing themselves. That book of yours, which is actually mine has the ability to fix certain possibilities in place so that they’re guaranteed to manifest.”
“So the diary is yours?” Christopher asks.
Adaolisa nods before continuing to say. “The man you saw before can only use the diary because I gave him my permission to use it.”
“I see.” Christopher responds. “So the truck and car crashes yesterday were the result of your orders?”
She leans in with a smirk before saying. “Yes. And before you ask, none of the people who were hurt were innocent.”
“To be honest I don’t really care about that.” Christopher sighs. Even if she did kill innocent people, just what the hell can he do about it anyway? Wouldn’t he just end up a bloody mess like the two bank robbers? Christopher wasn’t stupid. The poem from earlier repeats again in his mind and he quickly asks. “Why can I suddenly see the red strings?”
“Seriously honey?” Adaolisa smirks as she raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s because you merged with the soul fragment in the diary. You gained an awakening poem and have now transformed into a Moirai, which brings us to what your third question will be: why you’re being put through all of this.”
“That’s right” Christopher nods. “What is this all for?”
“Let’s just say that you’re a puzzle we’re slowly piecing back together.” Adaolisa says in a frustratingly cryptic manner. “We will help you in whatever way we can to restore yourself back to your original state. In exchange we’d like you to bless us.”
Christopher is utterly bedevilled by the woman’s words. What hell did she mean by restore him back to a former state? And what kind of blessing could he possibly give to a being like her. The way how Adaolisa and the hook nosed man referred to him was quite bizarre. It was as if he was a person or more accurately an entity of great significance to them.
There is a pause as Adaolisa exhales more smoke. Seeing that Christopher has fallen silent, she decides to continue speaking while smiling. “Observe the red strings carefully. You should see that some of them are attached to different parts of your body.”
“Attached to my body?” Christopher mutters to himself as he begins to observe the strings around him.
They all shoot off in random directions with a dense cluster connected directly to the centre of his chest.
Christopher reaches for them and finds that his hand simply fazes through.
“How many of them are attached to your chest?” Adaolisa asks.
“Around eight it seems…”
“Good.”
“Good?”
Raising an eyebrow Christopher looks at the strange woman and asks. “What now? Where do we go from here?”
“The eight strings attached to your soul is what we’ll be focusing on for now.” Adaolisa explains with a gentle smile.
“I take it these eight are of particular importance?”
“Yes they lead to the rest of your soul that has been scattered all over the place.” Adaolisa confirms. “Throughout your stay here you’ll be following those eight strings to reunite with the rest of you. Gradually you’ll become more and more powerful and by the end of it, you’ll reclaim your throne as one of the most powerful entities in existence.”
“Is that what that Moirai word means?” Christopher asks. “That is what I am?”
Adaolisa nods, her face still smiling as if it was the only expression she could make.
“And what is that exactly?” Christopher asks.
“It’s a person with the ability to control the direction of fate.”
“I can control it?”
“Not yet.” Adaolisa says shaking her head. “You need to merge with at least one more soul fragment which as previously seen with the diary can take up to a few days. For now you can have my permission to experiment with the diary.”
Christopher’s eyes widen. The diary? Was she really just going to give him control over it so casually?
As Christopher gets lost in his own thoughts Adaolisa stands up before smiling down at him. At the next moment Christopher feels as an invisible connection has formed between him and the diary.
“Come I’ll show you to your room.” Adaolisa says.
Christopher returns the diary to his suitcase before standing up and following her up one of the massive spiralling staircases.
At the same time a boy who appears to be slightly older than Christopher comes sliding down the wooden railing before springing off and landing a little too close to him.
He was about an inch shorter than Christopher and had the precursor to a moustache developing above his shit eating grin. He had pale skin and reddish brown hair, and brown eyes that shimmered with mischief. He wears a red bath robe over what appears to be grey pyjamas. Overall he has a charming but extremely immature demeanour to him.
“So this is my new younger brother!” The boy says, his breath forcing Christopher to take a step back. He looks up at Adaolisa who remains silent as her smile curls up slightly.
“My name is Guyus.” The boy says looking back at Christopher. “Good to meet you little bro!”
“My name is Christopher.” Christopher responds. “It’s good to meet you too. I take it there’s more kids here like you and me?”
“Wait…” Guyus’s falls into a daze briefly before jolting in delayed surprise. “Your Christopher Marcus? The famous one?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“No, I seriously thought it was just a resemblance.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Christopher replies with a self deprecating chuckle. “Maybe that’s what most people would think if they stumbled upon a celebrity in their own home.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Guyus looks Christopher up and down before rubbing his chin and saying. “I’m not buying it…”
Christopher looks at the boy raising an eyebrow.
“Prove by singing…” Guyus demands.
Christopher rolls his eyes before looking towards Adaolisa, giving her a look that clearly communicated his intent to continue their ascent up the spiralling stairs.
“Guyus, don’t you have anything important to do?” Adaolisa asks while smiling. “It seems like you’ve got a few unresolved issues that need to be dealt with.”
Guyus shoots her a confused glance before grasping. “Mom, you’re gazing into my future again aren’t you. What’s going to happen to me?”
He looks around frantically before suddenly pausing as if remembering something. “Oh shit, I left my phone open in my bedroom… that crazy bitch is gonna go through it!”
At the next moment a blur shoots passed Christopher and Adaolisa, slamming into guyus and sending him tumbling down the stairs.
A girl the same age as him has him pinned to the floor. She has long white hair and long nails that end in points that are practically needles. She’s quite beautiful with skin that seems to have a litteral glow to it. Her sharp features sharpen even more as her face tenses with hurt and anger. Her hair moves with a life of its own, coiling around itself like a bundle of snakes as she hissed out her words. “Why the fuck are there so many other girls in your dms? I guess all the crap you were spewing about loyalty was bunk.
She suddenly grabs Guyus where the sun doesn’t shine, causing his eyes to bulge in terror while continuing to hiss out obscenities. “This is the only part of you worth a damn, let’s see how much those slutty little Adamites will love you without your manhood.”
With a gentle smile and a wave of her hand, Adaolisa makes a door appear underneath the two teens. It opens and their quarrel quickly ends with them screaming as they fall down to god knows where.
“Come.” Adaolisa says.
They ascend to the top of the staircase and come to a dark wooden corridor that was also sort of a balcony overlooking the living room and the chandelier. The wall had rows of numbered doors running down it in a way reminiscent of an old hotel. This was truly a bizarre building. The internal layout seems to defy logic and makes it almost impossible to imagine what this place looks like externally.
“Right there.” Adaolisa says, pointing to a nearby door numbered one zero one.
She gestures for Christopher to open the door which he promptly does.
The room inside is rather plain with a comfy looking bed and some basic furniture like a desk and a few drawers.
As soon as he steps inside everything goes to black, and Christopher thinks that he’s gone unconscious.
Feeling the oddly reassuring hand of Adaolisa on his shoulder, he regains his senses as sand begins to materialise at his feet.
Christopher watches on in amazement as a patch of sand several dozen feet in diameter emerges before him.
“These rooms are formed by your own imagination.” Adaolisa says. “In a sense, it’s a reflection of your own internal state.”
Looking back Christopher sees the woman’s gentle smile and asks. “I have a friend. Will it be okay if I stay in contact with him?”
Adaolisa’s expression remains unchanged. “That depends on his nature.”
“His nature?”
“Yes.” Adaolisa smiles as she goes on to explain. “If he is like us, a foreigner to this world and its mortal tribulations, a being destined for ascension, then he is free to live here alongside us. But if he is instead from the seed of Adam, then it’s not our place to interfere with his life any further. If he isn’t one of us then you must bid him farewell and wish him a happy mortal life.”
Christopher doesn’t know what to say again. That tone and those words… they sound as if they were coming from some kind of angel speaking down on him. It’s different than how Adaolisa had previously spoken. The feeling that he stands at the edge of a rabbit hole increases again and the ground underneath feels like it’s about to give way.
“I don’t understand any of this.” He says.
Adaolisa nods, her eyes calm and still, her smile reassuring. To Christopher she was like a pond without ripples, a blue sky void of clouds.
“You will understand eventually.” She says.
“Everything is changing so quickly.” Christopher says with a sigh. “A few days ago I was still in the hospital thinking that my life was about to end at any moment, now I’m suddenly being confronted with this utterly bizarre situation. I don’t know what to think of any of this.”
“Maybe you should take some time to interact with the others.” Adaolisa suggests, turning to exit the room, her smile static and as bright as ever.
“The others?” Christopher asks. “Oh! That’s right I asked about that earlier on the staircase. How many more are there?”
Adaolisa responds with the usual smile. “I have nine children. Ten, including you, though you are not obligated to consider me your mother if you don’t want to as most of the others don’t either, it’s mainly so I can legally house you and the others. A interesting thing about them is that they were never brought up in the world of Adam like you were. I’m sure they’ll take quite a liking to you. Especially my eldest daughter. I’ll let you have some time to yourself. Feel free to explore this place as soon as the mood strikes you. And if you want to go back out into the material world then just open any door while focusing your intent to do so.”
Christopher nods and Adaolisa glides out of the room. The door closes on its own gently and Christopher is left alone to contemplate his next action.
After standing still for half a minute, he turns back to observe the room and remembers what Adaolisa said about the room being formed from his imagination.
With a single thought, the comfy bed and furniture from earlier reappear along with the addition of a closet. He could see it all clearly despite there being no source of light.
He sits on the side of the bed, sinking in to its soft embrace. He lies down fully as his mind wanders to
He opens the diary over his lap and wonders how he’ll make it do what he wants. He already knows that writing won’t do any good, so perhaps a thought command? What the hell would he even do with it?
Christopher decides to put off the diary for the time being and retrieves his phone. He goes on google maps to see his location but finds that the app keeps on buffering. With a frown he attempts to call Okimoto which fails due to no signal. Fortunately He could still use the internet as well as send text messages which he promptly did. While waiting for Okimoto’s response, he gets up and gets close to the door where he hears the sound of two or more hushed voices in conversation on the other side.
Placing his ear to the door, he can only barely make out the muffled words.
“Stop giggling like that Chica, please calm down or else he’ll hear us!”
“Shut up I’m trying to listen! I heard footsteps just now.”
“Give me a break, you’re such a kid.”
“What are the chances huh? That the one the matriarch mentioned was actually a celebrity! I wonder what he looks like now, he was so damn fine in his music videos. Do you think he’s gotten taller?”
“Oh gosh! Girl, You’re actually drooling!”
Girls… Two of them…
Christopher takes a step back from the door before stroking his chin. These must have been two of the previously mentioned ten children. He wonders what there deal is since just like him they presumably weren’t ordinary people. They sounded pretty ordinary but who’s to say that he won’t be met with two terrifying monstrosities glaring down at him once he opens the door. At this point nothing can surprise him.
Pushing his wariness to the side, Christopher twists the door knob and immediately hears one of the girls scurrying away.
He opens the door and steps out to see a rather ordinary looking girl staring up at him. She was scrawny with long messy blonde hair and massive green eyes that resemble that of a stray kitten’s. She wore pink pyjamas with cartoon characters scribbled all over them. Freckles were scattered across her small button like nose and rosy cheeks. She appeared quite young but at the same time radiated a slightly mature aura unbecoming of her meagre size.
“Umm…. Hey!” She says, before introducing herself properly. “I’m Beverly your step sister? No! Your foster sister right? Adoptive sister? Orr...”
“Beverly don’t be weird!” The other girl mutters from off to the side.
Beverly starts to laugh nervously while looking over at her.
Following her gaze to his left, Christopher sees the other girl. She seems closer to him in age but that might also just be because she’s quite tall for a girl. She has long straight black hair with massive silver eyes that were curved due to a noticeable slant. Her nose was pointed and a little upturned, her lips were plump like that of a models and her cheekbones were defined. She may have actually been a model or a former child actor like himself as her looks were astonishing. She was pretty, too pretty. Looking at her was sipping a cup of coffee with too much sugar and milk, or biting into a cake with way too much cream and icing.
Christopher takes a few steps towards her and notices an additional trait that freezes him in place.
Just below her eye on her right cheek is a birthmark shaped like a rosette, this characteristic may have seemed ordinary but it was in fact identical to one Okimoto has in the same place. Now that Christopher has noticed this, he looks at her face a bit more closely and the resemblance is uncanny. Her silver eyes have the exact same tendency to pierce through a person’s soul as his. Just like him her complexion was rather ghostly, though it did contrast nicely with her pitch black hair.
“Hey…” She says, her voice just as nervous as her sister’s.
Christopher looks back at Beverly before saying. “Your name was Beverly right? Then this must be Chica.”
“Yes that’s my name.” Chica says with a dimpled smile.
Christopher looks at her again before responding. “It’s nice to meet you, but I guess it’s pointless for me to tell you my name. I heard your conversation as I was walking over to the door.”
Both Chica and Beverly immediately fall into a daze, failing to hide the obvious embarrassment.
“You… heard everything…” Chica asks in a high pitch as she turns bright red.
“I heard something about you drooling.” Christopher chuckles lightheartedly before lying. “I didn’t quite catch what was being said before that though, I’m sorry if i might have accidentally overheard something private, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or anything like that.”
Chica regains her composure and lets out a chuckle of her own. “No worries. If anything I should be the one to say sorry for eavesdropping on you.”
She spreads her arms out with an overly enthusiastic smile gesturing around at the Victorian style corridor before asking. “What do you think so far? Would it be ok if I show you around and introduce you to the rest of your new family.”
Family? Christopher couldn’t help but scoff internally. Was this girl naive or putting on an elaborate act? The attitude of his mother and the hook nosed man, as well as Adaolisa’s words had made one thing about his situation undeniably clear; he was here for a purpose, to be used. Whatever or whoever he was in the past was clearly of great importance to these people. Why couldn’t they just be honest with what they want? Did they really think that he was someone who could be manipulated into doing their bidding through emotional ties? His mother had never raised such a person.
“I’d love that.” Christopher says, wearing the same fake smile he always wore in his music videos. He looks back at Beverly and asks. “Are you coming with us?”
“No.” Beverly answers shaking her head before winking at Chica. “I’d probably just get in the way, besides Chica has been practically frothing at the mouth for a chance to meet you. I don’t want to ruin this for her.”
“That’s not true!” Chica yells before grabbing Christopher’s hand and storming off.
She leads him down the corridor showing him the various doors and telling him the names of the siblings that reside within the rooms. Apparently most of her siblings were off doing god knows what. Christopher didn’t put much effort into remembering their names and by the time they circled back to the living room he had already forgotten most of them. The place was cozy or least as close to cozy as a place like this could be. The strange antiquated style had its charm and its non linear ever morphing structure was interesting to say the least.
In the living room Adaolisa sat reading a book, Guyus had returned as well and was seated opposite from her texting on his phone.
Upon seeing Christopher his face lights up before immediately darkening when he sees Chica.
Chica herself scowls at him before smiling at Christopher and saying. “That’s Guyus, he’s a bad influence so I wouldn’t recommend hanging around him too much.”
“I already met him.” Christopher says with a chuckle. “He was attacked by a girl with white hair. I… really hope that wasn’t another one of your siblings as that would be quite nasty.”
Chica lets out a stunned gasp. “What do you mean?”
“Sweet home Alabama.” Christopher replies, wandering if this supposed non human entity will get the reference.
“Oh!” Chica immediately doubles over laughing. “No that’s just one of his side pieces. That crazy bitch has been obsessed with him for years and thinks there soulmates. To be honest, I don’t get what she sees in him and suspect that he seduced her with sex magic.”
“Chica you’ve been wearing that rank ass night gown for a week, I bet it fucking stinks.” Guyus yells out while flipping Chica off.
“Actually this has just been washed.”
“Actually that’s a blatant lie.”
“Actually it’s not a lie.”
Christopher doesn’t know what to make of what he’s hearing, these were typical teenage relationships, not something he’d expect from people who were supposedly not human.
“Besides.” Chica says smiling as warmly and as welcomingly as ever. “The only true siblings here are me Guyus and Beverly, we might not be connected by blood but we have lived here for as long as we could remember and therefore consider Adaolisa to be our true mother. Most of the others all came at later points in time and tend to just see her as more of a vague authority figure and us as simple close friends.”
“I see, and where are we?” Christopher asks. “What is this place?”
Chica taps her finger against her chin for a few moments before answering. “Are you familiar with pocket dimensions?”
“Pocket dimensions?”
“Yes, this place is not in the material world as you’d understand it, I’m sure you must have noticed it by now.”
“I see…” Christopher says with a sigh. He checks his phone and sees that Okimoto has responded to his text, asking him to send him the location. Christopher responds by repeating the information that Chica had given him.
“Who are you texting?” Chica asks, leaning in to glance at his phone.
Before she can pry any further one of the nearby doors swings open as a young man comes stumbling inside. His clothes are torn and stained with blood and his blond hair is a total mess. As all eyes fall on him he collapses to the floor before yelling out. “I was just trying to mind my own business, it’s like they get off on being in control.”
“Let me guess, the Janitors?” Chica whose expression had immediately turned serious when she saw him says before running over to help him up.
Adaolisa and Guyus soon followed and helped the man over to one of the couches before lying him down.
Adaolisa sits down beside him before resting his head in her lap and asking with a gentle smile. “The soul fragments, you still have them right?”
The man looks up at her with a complex expression before catching his breath and answering. “Unfortunately I only have one of them. They took the fate accelerating effigy.”
“So you still have the string manifesting poem?”
The man nods before groaning.
Adaolisa nods at Chica who takes a step towards the injured man while speaking in a poetic tone.
“Together we shoulder the burden of hate, through love we scatter this burdensome fate.”
“What the…” Christopher, who was observing from a distance feels an overwhelmingly warm force emerging from Chica. He watches as the various injuries are transferred over from the man to herself before immediately dispersing across her body and vanishing.
The poem he had just heard reminds him of the one he had experienced when merging with the diary. There was a strange air to them, as if they were more than just words. Was this how these people got their powers? Through poems? Surely that wasn’t the case.
The man sits up before thanking Chica.
Christopher joins the group and sits next to Guyus who sits on the couch opposite them.
“Right.” The man says, speaking more clearly than before. “I was only able to retain the string manifesting poem with the soul fragment fused into it. I’m sorry for the set back I caused.”
“It’s not your fault dude.” Guyus says with a smile to reassure him. “Those assholes love to start shit with us for no reason. Mom’s gonna have a word with them and the second soul fragment will be returned to us.”
The man’s eyes meet with Christopher’s and the man shoots him a smile. “Yo yo YO! What’s poppin MY DAWG! I got yo shyte right here ya feel me.”
After a few awkward stares the man nods holding open his palm over a small table in the centre of all of the couches. A strange orb appears enshrouded in a crimson plasma like energy. As soon as it manifested everything seemed to be dyed under a crimson light.
“Woah!”
Chica’s eyes widened in fascination while Adaolisa continued to smile unfazed.
Guyus leaned back while grinning and the stranger did the same thing.
Christopher could sense the connection already, it’s intimate and nostalgic, like being reunited with a long lost memory. He reaches out for the orb out of pure instinct, like a child reaching for its parent. As moments go by time seems to slow before… Everything goes to black once again…